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DEAN’S COLUMN
December 2011
DEAN’S COLUMN
We are completing our first term under the new semester calendar at Ohio Northern University. The transition has gone remarkably smooth, thanks to extensive preparation by our faculty and staff. This first semester has been full of student and faculty achievements across the spectrum of disciplines represented in the Getty College of Arts & Sciences.
TREX CLASSES
HANDS ACROSS THE SEA
President Daniel DiBiasio’s inauguration was one of the highlights of the fall semester. As part of the inaugural festivities, Dr. George Kuh, Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus of Higher Education at Indiana University, led an academic symposium on “Enhancing Student Learning and Success at ONU: The Promise of High-Impact Educational Practices.”
R.A.C.E.R. research revs up
As founding director of the Center for Postsecondary Research and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), Kuh shared research that demonstrates how students deepen their understanding when they have opportunities to apply, reflect on, and integrate knowledge through internships, service learning, research, study abroad and other forms of active learning. The most recent results of the NSSE survey confirm what is apparent to any visitor to ONU’s campus: Students and faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences are engaged in high-impact practices. We are particularly pleased that the research shows that student participation increases during their four years at Ohio Northern. We continually look for new ways to engage students. The new field semester at the Metzger Nature Center is an excellent example of intensive, hands-on, reflective learning. Likewise, opportunities to travel, study, perform and provide service abroad allow students to apply their knowledge in new settings and deepen their understanding of other cultures. Team competitions like Mock Trial enable students to hone their critical-thinking and public-speaking skills and to familiarize themselves with the legal system. Our long-standing partnership with the Washington Center allows students to pursue internships that are valuable both professionally and personally. Students also have extensive opportunities to engage in research. The R.A.C.E.R. Project is a new and very exciting opportunity for students to explore how what they learn in the classroom can be applied to improving race car drivers’ performance. The Dean’s Opportunity Fund is one avenue to ensure that students in the College of Arts & Sciences can participate fully in off-campus opportunities to deepen and share their learning. Together, these experiences help prepare students for successful careers and active involvement in their communities. Students and alumni of the College of Arts & Sciences increasingly use social media to share information and resources. I invite you to join the Grow-ONU Project and learn how you can engage with and support our students through mentoring and internship projects. Dr. Catherine Albrecht Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences
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FIELD SEMESTER
AT THE GERMAN PRESS
Dr. Edward Potkanowicz (center), ONU assistant professor of exercise physiology, has sought research input from Shawn Bayliff (left), president of Trinity Motorsports Group in Lima, and Jon Henry Racing of Ada (right). Continued pg. 2
Trial Hands across TREX courses Mockshapes future
CLASS NOTES
program
prepare freshmen
for
college success lawyers, judges
With a goal of helping new college students successfully transition from high school to college, the College of Arts & Sciences created Transition Experience Courses (TREX) as a requirement for all incoming students this fall. TREX courses span a variety of topics, all aimed at helping students think critically, reason analytically and make connections between disciplines. Topics range from ethics in science to Parisian history. “I love working with freshmen because even over the first couple weeks of school, you can see them grow as people,” says Dr. Denise D’Arca, professor of music, whose Intro to Creativity class challenges students to apply creative thinking and the creative process to other subjects and their future professions. “It is my hope that the students who take the course will be better able to approach their ONU years – and their lives – with minds that are primed for new experiences and ideas.” In addition to the individual subject matter, students learn various life skills for thriving in the college environment, such as study skills, library orientation and academic etiquette.
Though much has changed at Ohio Northern University since 1989, one of the few constants has been the leadership of the Mock Trial program under Dr. JoAnn Scott, who started the program shortly after joining the University in 1987. Any student, regardless of major, is eligible to participate in Mock Trial at ONU, where they learn firsthand about the American judicial system by competing in imitation trials with other college teams across the region. Scott, professor of political science and an advisor to the ONU Mock Trial teams, says there wasn’t anything like Mock Trial available when she was an undergraduate, but she has witnessed its positive impact on generations of students.
the sea
From elation and thunderous applause at Laupheim to sadness and eerie silence at Dachau, the ONU Wind Orchestra students experienced a range of emotion and cultural encounters during a 10-day tour of southern Germany at the end of May 2011. Forty-five musicians participated in the “Hands Across the Sea” tour, which featured four concerts in the German villages of Amberg, Laupheim, Wagen and Stuttgart. They performed a concert of all-American music, including the “Cuban Overture” by George Gershwin and “Fanfare for the Common Man” by Aaron Copeland.
“The purpose is, first, to introduce and familiarize students with the American legal system and how courts operate and, second, to develop critical thinking and analytical skills,” she says.
Upcoming Events Jan. 26 Alex DePue’s World Music Duo
Jan. 29 The Spencers: Theatre of Illusion; Toledo Symphony Orchestra Concert March 1 ONU Wind Orchestra: Cities and Far Away Places
March 15 Miller
March 29-April 1 Student-Directed One Acts
Continued pg. 2 Continued pg. 2
April 19-22 Thoroughly Modern Millie
Continued pg. 3
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“Any time you can get Midwest kids out of the country and out of their comfort zone, you reap a lot of benefits,” says Dr. Thomas Hunt, professor of music and director of the Wind Orchestra. During the trip, he witnessed tremendous personal growth in each student. From Continued...Hands Across the Sea
Julia Backus and Dawn DeColibus spent the fall 2011 semester traipsing across wetlands, wading through streams and scouring woodlands across Ohio and in the Gulf of Mexico. And they loved every minute.
“The nature center is unique to ONU, and it provides a wonderful opportunity for students to experience conditions that are vastly different from the flat, glaciated terrain around Ada,” says Dr. Robert Verb, professor of biology.
Backus and DeColibus are part of the first cohort of environmental and field biology majors to participate in ONU’s new Field Semester. This immersion program gets students out of the classroom and into a variety of different habitats to sample and study plants, invertebrates and fish.
The Field Semester takes learning to a new level, says Verb. “The typical time constraint of a three-hour lab is gone, and learning time is greatly expanded,” he explains. “Instead of just sitting and listening, students are going out and doing.”
“Other universities offer just lectures with pictures, but the learning sticks with you a lot better if you can handle and see everything in person,” says DeColibus, a junior from Strongsville, Ohio. The Field Semester, geared toward juniors and seniors, covers five subjects during the 15-week semester: environmental research methods, field botany, field invertebrate biology, ichthyology and marine biology. Students spend most of the semester investigating natural environments and learning research techniques at ONU’s Metzger Nature Center and the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory. The Metzger Center, located in the rolling hills of Tuscarawas County (Ohio) 160 miles from Ada, provides a secluded, dedicated learning environment with more than 70 acres of mostly wooded lands, a pond, streams and grasslands.
ONU’s environmental and field biology program is one of only a handful in the U.S. to offer an immersion experience that prepares students for their future careers. “We provide a lot of exposure to the aquatic sciences, because as freshwater resources become more threatened, that is where the jobs will be,” says Verb.
She says initially students who are interested in law school gravitate toward the activity, but students from fields like pharmacy, business and engineering also see the value of Mock Trial, because it encourages them to “think on their feet.” Alumni of ONU Mock Trial teams have gone on to notable careers. There are graduates working in the Dayton prosecutor’s office, the Ohio attorney general’s office and prestigious law firms. One alumna is a public defender in Florida, and another is a sitting judge in Louisville, Ky. Autumn (Long) Manley, BA ’07, graduated from California Western School of Law in San Diego in 2009 and says her experience with ONU’s Mock Trial program “was by far the most
The students stayed with host families and visited many historic spots. They spent a sunny day exploring the beautiful Alps, and they toured the Dachau Concentration Camp, a Medieval castle and the Mercedes Museum. “This was my first trip to Europe, and I absolutely loved it,” says Travis Hertenstein, a sophomore music major from Saint Marys, Ohio. “We climbed mountains and the highest church steeple in the world. We watched a ballet and listened to a few phenomenal orchestras. The most memorable experience was our trip to Dachau. We walked all through the camp, seeing the gas chambers, crematoria and showers. It was an awful experience, but also a growing experience. It was the only time during the trip that I can remember the bus being completely silent when we left.” Hertenstein says that he had been merely entertaining the idea of studying abroad. But he now plans to do everything in his power to make it happen. “After traveling in Europe, my slight ambition turned into something I have every desire to do.”
From Continued...R.A.C.E.R. research
“What isn’t good about a program in which you experience your future career?” says Backus, a senior from Columbus, Ohio. “The single greatest strength of the program is that our professors are genuinely interested in our growth as students and field biologists. While many universities are cutting back on environmental biology classes, ONU offers a hands-on, in-thefield program that I am proud to have on my résumé. It has given me experiences that will prepare me for the work or research I will be doing – and enjoying – for the rest of my life.”
Racing – man and machine in a technically complex marriage, teetering on the edge of their limitations for three hours or 500 miles at speeds that blur the senses and certainly compromise them. But while an inordinate amount of attention and expense is applied to squeezing every fraction of horsepower out of that power plant up front, the driver in the cockpit soldiers on.
rewarding and practical experience I had ever had, and still is to this day.”
Dr. Edward Potkanowicz, assistant professor of exercise physiology, has doggedly pursued a key to that vault of information through his “R.A.C.E.R. Project,” an acronym for Real Assessment of Core and Environmental Responses.
From Continued...Mock Trial Scott says there are anywhere from two to five teams at ONU, with six to 10 participants on each team, during any given year.
Germans love band music, explains Hunt. Most small German villages boast a community band, with lifetime players and an apprenticeship program. At Laupheim, the ONU Wind Orchestra enjoyed prolonged applause. The ONU musicians, used to more tame American audiences, were impressed by the wildly enthusiastic response. They performed three encores, including the “Radetzky March” by Johann Strauss Sr., a European favorite. “The audience just ate it up,” says Hunt.
Along with Nicole (Boals) Winget, JD ’09, Manley now gives back to the program by serving as an attorney coach for the students. “Dr. Scott, Nicole and I are 100 percent dedicated to these students and to building the program to be as successful as we know it can be,” Manley says. “Mock Trial has so much to offer students,” she says. “The students learn to work as a team, manage their time, and have confidence in themselves and their team members. We literally mold these undergraduate students into impressive professionals who are comfortable and confident when performing in actual courtrooms. They have very bright futures ahead of them, and we look forward to providing them with as many advantages as we can.”
The intense heat, exhaustion and diminished sensory acuity the driver confronts during each race are accepted as part of the territory, and little is known about how that individual’s physiology is impacted by this environment so flush with stress and challenges.
Essentially, Potkanowicz wants good science to ride along in that next IndyCar or NASCAR race, compile real-time data on how those surroundings impact the driver’s vital signs, and use that information to better train and prepare the driver for future races. “An Olympic runner is hooked up to sensors, and solid data is recorded, and from there you make a faster runner,” Potkanowicz says. “That doesn’t exist in racing because the technology hasn’t been there yet to collect the data.” After nurturing the concept for several years, when he arrived at ONU Potkanowicz was encouraged to collaborate with Dr. Sami Khorbotly (right), assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.
That was the “Gentlemen, Start Your Engines” moment for the R.A.C.E.R. Project. “When I explained it to Sami, his electrical engineering knowledge took over,” Potkanowicz says. “I liked the concept as soon as I heard about it,” says Khorbotly, who has done extensive work with sensors similar to the ones the project would require. “You always need an application for your research, and this seemed like an ideal application.” Like any racing endeavor, there was some drafting done. Anthony Dilisio (center), a computer engineering student from Raleigh, N.C., was brought on board to assist. “I thought it was really interesting to work on something that hadn’t been done yet,” Dilisio says. “Any sort of innovation is always exciting, but this was also an opportunity to start using the things that I’ve learned here.” The trio is testing the sensors that will record the driver’s data throughout the race. They hope to see the project accelerate with an infusion of interest and much-needed capital from the targeted beneficiaries – the racing industry. “We want to develop a way to make the race car driver a better race car driver, and, ultimately, a safer race car driver and a more competitive race car driver,” Potkanowicz says. “Racing puts so much focus on the engine and the car, but during the race there is a fallible human being controlling all of that. We just don’t know much about their tolerances.” The R.A.C.E.R. Project hopes to speed in the direction of those answers.
3 From Continued...TREX
“I tell prospective families that the TREX course is the gateway to the ONU approach to general education, that each step you take is a choice, and it is part of our goal to show students how to take ownership of their choices and make them wisely,” says Dr. Vicki Motz, visiting assistant professor of biological sciences, who teaches a course called Nutrition, Nature and Nations: Food for Thought with Dr. Catherine Young, visiting assistant professor of biological sciences. The professors focus on the idea of choice in their course, which explores what people eat, why they eat it, and the personal, regional and global ramifications of food choices. “I took this class because I’ve always been really interested in nutrition,” says Kristina Klusek, a freshman nursing student from Canton, Mich. “We have projects involving debates about food, including a critical
analysis, a pro-con paper synthesizing different sources and an in-class debate on our subjects.” In his Citizenship and Public Advocacy course, Dr. Robert Alexander, BA ’94, provides students with an introduction to the study of citizenship in the U.S.
Class Notes
“It has been very exciting to teach students from such a broad range of majors,” says Alexander, associate professor of political science. “The students in my TREX classes have very different levels of political knowledge. I enjoy the challenge of showing them how they can indeed make a difference – especially on issues they feel are important. I am excited to show them how they can have control over policies, rather than having policies dictated to them.”
ONU hostS lecture by top ethnobotanists
Daniel Painter, a freshman social studies major from Cairo, Ohio, says he has learned “how to be an effective citizen and how to get involved in politics” in Alexander’s class. “It has given me a sense of community,” Painter says. “It has encouraged me to think of Ada as a home, rather than a place I’m just visiting.”
Leading ethnobotanists Dr. Sebsebe Demissew and Dr. Nigist Asfaw were on campus to present “Aromatic Plants, People and Sustainable Use: The Ethiopian Experience,” as part of the Keiser Distinguished Lectureship in Life Sciences program.
My internship at the German Press Agency By Kaitlin Durbin, senior journalism major from Danville, Ohio
As a three-year layout editor for Ohio Northern University’s student newspaper, The Northern Review, and rising editor-in-chief, I was looking for another avenue in which to test my preparedness for the field of journalism. I wanted to use my undergraduate education in a competitive setting to see how it held up against other schools.
It did not disappoint. Through the over-arching program The Fund for American Studies’ Institute on Political Journalism, I spent eight weeks exploring Washington, D.C., both as a student and as an intern. I completed two courses at Georgetown University, and I interned with the German Press Agency (dpa), a news wire comparable to the Associated Press in the U.S., which provides services to more than 100 countries. As an aspiring journalist about to graduate and enter the field, I cannot stress enough how invaluable that internship experience was to my future career.
Demissew is director of the National Herbarium of Ethiopia and professor of plant taxonomy and biodiversity at Addis Ababa University. Asfaw is assistant professor of chemistry and is credited with bringing green chemistry to Ethiopia. As ethnobotanists, they have coauthored the book Aromatic Plants of Ethiopia, which includes discussions of plants used for spices and medicinal purposes. Demissew’s work includes documentation of the flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea, including the use of plants by indigenous communities. His work engages him in understanding the causes and effects of changes in the environment, with a main focus on natural resources. Asfaw’s interests and research involve the isolation and structure elucidation of natural products from indigenous aromatic and medicinal plants, essential oils, green/sustainable chemistry and renewable feedstocks.
Northern Without Borders blog
Ohio Northern University has been awarded a three-year, $30,000 grant from Husky Energy to support the Multiple Intelligence (MI) Ready College Preparedness program. The grant was one of the activities honoring 125 years of refinery operations in Lima, Ohio. ONU entered into a partnership with Lima Senior High What began as a routine medical School of Multiple Intelligences in mission trip to the Dominican Republic 2005 to help students prepare for is now a campus-wide movement to connect ONU students with international and keep on track to obtain a service opportunities. Founded in 2010, college education. the mission of Northern Without Borders The MI Ready program maintains a is to plan, develop and implement college presence for 100 high school student-led service work in underserved students. Twenty-five new students areas around the globe. are selected each year from the Now, thanks to Northern Without Borders, ONU students will bring about change for others as well as for themselves. In 2010, 41 students, faculty and staff traveled to the Dominican Republic for one week, completing a total of 15 clinics. This past summer, nearly 100 students, faculty, staff and alumni from various disciplines completed a total of 36 clinics over the course of three weeks. Read the blog from this summer’s trip to the Dominican Republic at onu.edu/borders
Ada proclaims Al Cohoe Day On Sept. 15, the village of Ada paid tribute to Dr. Al Cohoe, professor of psychology and sociology, for his nearly 50 years as a member of the ONU and Ada communities. Making the proclamation was Mayor David Retterer, associate professor of mathematics and computer science at ONU. During his career, Cohoe has been a dignified ambassador for the WLIO Easter Straker show, served as an expert witness and speaker about psychological topics, worked to improve the view on the Ada streets by driving his fleet of cars (Rolls, Bentley and Prius), and acted as a free travel guide, especially in London and Mobile.
Students participate in Hanyang University Summer Program
After working for the dpa, I am now able to highlight on my résumé that I was the first non-German-speaking intern to work for the fourth largest wire service in the world. I was welcomed as a valued member of the staff – not once did I fetch coffee or copy documents. My job was to be a reporter: I followed the stock market, reported on White House conference calls, and covered daily news. I wrote every day, producing more than 60 articles for the dpa’s wire.
Further strengthening my résumé as a senior in college, I am able to proudly say that I am published in more than five different countries and across the Internet. If an employer wishes to read my work or fact-check my résumé, they have but to type my name into Google to pull up my articles. After completing my internship, my editor said I was one of the best interns to ever come through the dpa, “comparable only to an intern they had five years prior, who is now a full-time member of their staff.” Those are the recommendations that are going to push my résumé above competitors in the field. Ohio Northern University gave me a solid foundation on which to build a strong portfolio, and interning for the dpa actually jump-started my career.
freshmen class, the majority of whom come from low-income homes, diverse backgrounds or are first-generation high school graduates. These students and their parents pledge to participate in the program throughout the four years of high school. During the school year, ONU provides academic workshops for students in areas like forensic science, chemistry, engineering, robotics, virtual simulation, mathematics, biology, art and design, entrepreneurship, history, communications and study skills. The University also partners with the school on dual enrollment, in which high school teachers teach courses for college credit under the supervision of an ONU faculty member.
Grant to fund history education Dr. James Schul, assistant professor of education, has received a $12,603 grant from the Library of Congress Teaching With Primary Sources program. Schul and Dr. Russ Crawford, associate professor of history, will work with teachers in the Allen East School District as well as ONU teacher candidates in a project titled “Unleashing Alternative Representations of the Past into Middle and Secondary History Classrooms.” The program consists of five workshops designed to show participants how to use visual and aural sources, taken from the Library of Congress: Teaching with Primary Sources website, as a means to create powerful social studies lessons for students in grades five through 12.
Department of Art and Design to host “Berlin to Prague” tour
In the competitive, dog-eat-dog job market, experience is the single most important component on a résumé. It tells employers what a student is capable of bringing to their company: what roles were you willing to fill, what quality of work did you produce, what did you learn, and how did you function in a professional environment? In short, it is the key to landing a job.
The dpa also encouraged my thirst for investigative work by allowing me the freedom to research topics of my choice to produce features for its wire. Among the topics I chose were the potential repercussions of facial recognition software used by social media sites, which was published in Thailand’s leading English newspaper, The Nation, and the effects of a severe drought across the American Midwest, which was translated directly into German and published in eight German newspapers its first day on the wire. I was the first dpa intern ever to receive this honor.
Grant to support MI Ready College Preparedness program
Eleven undergraduate students from Ohio Northern participated in the 2011 Hanyang University Summer Program. Students from each of the University’s four undergraduate colleges spent four weeks in summer studies at Hanyang University in South Korea. Selected from the Getty College of Arts & Sciences were Megan Piersol, a senior history major from Warren, Ohio, Abbie Sterling, a senior creative writing major from Sylvania, Ohio, Sachiko Arakawa, a senior nursing major from Rushsylvania, Ohio, and Ayumi Murabayashi, a junior international studies major from Mie-ken, Japan. This is the fifth year for the exchange agreement. With 20 colleges and 12 postgraduate schools, Hanyang University is one of the leading private universities in Korea. Located in Seoul, the undergraduate student population is approximately 32,000, which includes 3,500 postgraduate students enrolled in a wide variety of disciplines.
History, fine arts and cultural exploration will combine during a 10day tour to Germany and the Czech Republic in May 2012, hosted by Ohio Northern University’s Department of Art and Design. Organized through EF Educational Tours by Brit Rowe, chair and associate professor of art and design, the tour is open to ONU students, alumni and the community. “We will visit the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie Museum and the Allied Museum and then travel to Wittenberg, Weimar, Dresden and Prague,” Rowe said. “While in Prague, we will visit St. Vitus Cathedral, attend a lecture on the Velvet Revolution and visit the Mucha Museum.” For details and a complete itinerary, contact the ONU Department of Art and Design at 419-772-2160 or search for tour number 1094432 at www.efcollegestudytours.com
December 2011 Getty College of Arts & Sciences 525 S. Main St. Ada, OH 45810
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ONU hosts Tibetan Monks As part of the Gaden Shartse Monks’ Tour this past October, Ohio Northern hosted six Tibetan monks who shared many traditions, such as sacred ritual dances, music, chanting and teachings. “The global population of Tibetan monks is not very large, so we were privileged to have had them visiting Ada,” said Dr. Suzanne Morrison, associate professor of religion. The campus also experienced the sacred art of sand mandala. According to the monks, “Sand Mandalas are cosmic diagrams that represent the celestial mansion of deity.”
Getty College Council Members for 2011-12 The A&S Newsletter is a publication of the Getty College of Arts & Sciences.
Editors: Josh Alkire Amy (Rettig) Prigge, BSBA ’94 Design: Nancy Burnett Photography: Ken Colwell Contributors: Cynthia Drake Matt Markey Laurie Wurth-Pressel
The A&S Newsletter is published by Ohio Northern University, 525 S. Main St. Ada, OH 45810, 419-772-2000. The Getty College of Arts & Sciences provides a broad-based education that fosters innovative problem-solving skills and teaches students to become independent thinkers and life-long learners. Rigorous programs of study in the liberal and fine arts, sciences, and preprofessional programs provide strong theoretical foundations. Practical experiences in unique and state-of-the-art facilities ensure that students are competitive and well prepared for graduate programs, professional studies and employment.
www.onu.edu/as
Dr. Dawn Brooks, BS ’93 Senior Director, Lilly Research Laboratories Eli Lilly & Company
Jeff McClellan, BS ’98 Head of School, MC2 STEM High School Cleveland Metropolitan Schools
Dr. Inara Brubaker, BS ’59, ACIT ’09 Senior Research Associate, Retired UOP LLC
R. Scott Miller, BA ’77 Director, Global Trade Policies and Global Government Relations Procter & Gamble
James E. Cates, BA ’67 Consultant, Author, Philanthropist and Retired Senior Executive IBM Corporation Dr. Jennifer (Pavlock) Counts, BS ’91 Section Head, Regulatory Affairs Procter & Gamble Dr. James L. Crates, BS ’62, JD ’65 Partner McKinley & Crates Law Firm Dr. James F. Essinger, BA ’79 Research Fellow The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Dr. Karen Keyse Fields, BA ’78 H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute University of South Florida Tonya J. Hunter, BS ’02, JD ’05 Attorney for Litigation Department Marathon Petroleum Honorable Cheryl (McCain) Mason, BA ’86, ACIT ’10 Chief Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals
Jane C. (Cooper) Reed, BA ’70 Teacher, Retired Keith E. Richards, BSEd ’69 Superintendent, Retired Newark City Schools Mark E. Smith, BA ’73 Managing Director, Fixed Income Division Loomis Sayles & Co. Michael B. Smith, BA ’69 President The Washington Center Rod Thompson, BA ’69, ACIT ’07 Teacher, Planetarium Mentor Exempted Schools Dr. Thomas Vukovich, BSEd ’65 Associate Provost, Retired University of Akron Dr. Ora “Bud” Winzenried, Hon. D. ’01 Owner, Retired Kenton Structural and Ornamental Steel
The Campaign for Ohio Northern University’s Tomorrow You can help us reach new heights! Consider a gift to The Campaign for Ohio Northern University’s Tomorrow. Establish your own legacy gift to one of the fundraising priorities (student aid, academic enrichment, capital projects and The Northern Fund) or support ONU students by choosing the Dean’s Opportunity Fund. To learn more, contact the Office of Development, 419-772-2035.
Social Interactions “I’m in the giveback phase of my life now. I spent four decades gathering knowledge; now I’m re-distributing it.” So says James E. Cates, BA ’67, as he discusses his recent involvement with the Getty College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio Northern University. Right now, Cates focuses much of this involvement on encouraging his fellow alumni to give back, too. To this end, Cates is at the helm of a new social media endeavor for alumni, the Grow-ONU Project. The vision of the Grow-ONU Project is to create a centralized system of collaboration between ONU students, alumni and private companies that effortlessly facilitates the discovery and funding of project opportunities, corporate internships and student-alumni mentoring programs for the college. Such a system would not only provide the College of Arts & Sciences with a powerful financial resource, but also create a network of students and professionals that would open up countless new options for expansion. “Put simply, we want to interface with ONU alumni using the social media technologies of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Eventbrite,” Cates explains. The Grow-ONU team is comprised of Ohio Northern students, faculty and staff from all across the University. This “horizontal” team, as Cates calls it, meets every two weeks by phone.
“Each one of them represents a different community at ONU,” he says. “This project is probably one of the most cross-functional groups on campus right now.” The group’s immediate objective is to increase alumni participation in mentoring and internship programs. A push for additional opportunity funding will follow at a later date. “We want to leverage social media to interface with our alumni in a more innovative manner,” he says. “The reason I think social media is a good tool is because social media is a more personal way of communicating. You can get closer to people using social media.” Cates attended and graduated from Ohio Northern in the 1960s before embarking on a 21-year career with IBM. After leaving IBM, Cates took executive leadership, IT deployment and corporate VP management positions with a number of companies in California’s Silicon Valley. Recently retired, Cates joined the College of Arts & Sciences’ Getty Council in April 2011. “This is my first project,” he says. “It’s turned out to be a pretty substantial one. It’s more than enough for the newbie to the council!”
The Grow-ONU Project needs your help to move forward with its planning. We’re looking to gather information regarding the social media platforms and interactions used by Arts & Sciences alumni.
If you use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Eventbrite, please send an email to communications-and-marketing@onu.edu and be sure to include your usernames for each platform, class year and major.